


Fetters and Freedom

by Liana_Angel



Series: River of Hope [1]
Category: Leverage, Norse Religion & Lore
Genre: Eliot Spencer is Fenrir, Multi, Norse Mythology AU, Other Norse characters mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 11:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12840234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liana_Angel/pseuds/Liana_Angel
Summary: Eliot Spencer wasn't always Elliot Spencer.  A long time ago, he was known as Fenrir, the wolf feared by the Aesir.  He was supposed to break out at Ragnorak, but prophecies aren't always true, and now he wanders Midgard as a human.





	Fetters and Freedom

_Unfettered will fare the Fenris Wolf_

_and ravaged the realm of men,_

_ere that cometh a kingly prince_

_as good, to stand in his stead._

_-Heimskringla_

 

“Don’t fear yourself,” his father said. “No matter what they say, you’re not a monster.”

Fenrir let himself believe for a while, when he lived in Asgard and was allowed to roam free. He knew he was different (he was a giant shape-shifting wolf, how could he not?), but the Aesir let him be who he was, even if he did see how they looked at him out the corner of their eyes, as if they were waiting for something to happen. But he was young, and didn’t realize what those looks meant.

He didn’t realize they were scared of him until it was too late, and the illusion shattered with chains, and Tyr’s trick (and they called that bravery, really ,what did they expect him to do?), and a sword in his mouth. It shattered when they accused him of being a monster, as if all he was was his strength and the terror that inspired in them, as if because they couldn’t tame him he was sure to attack them. It shattered when they left him howling to a father who couldn’t hear, a sister exiled to the Halls of the Dead, and a brother shunned to the deepest oceans.

\-------

He was destined to break out at Ragnorak, but it was Odin who followed the prophesies, not him. Not his family. So, after thousands of years where all he could think was of _rage, pain, revenge, revenge on those who has wronged him, who wronged his family_ , he broke the shackles that bound him, tore through the spells surrounding him until he could look human ( _normal_ , if his time at Asgard had taught him anything, it was that if you looked normal, they weren’t scared of you), pried the sword from his jaws (the sword that made him drool out a river they named _hope_ , as if mocking him), and vowed to never see one of the Aesir again. And it wouldn’t be hard - he may have shattered the chains binding him to the rock, but the fetters around his legs and wrists (cutting into his legs and wrists) still bound his powers.

He was almost human, he realized. If the Aesir saw him now - the great wolf, weaker than any of them — He shuddered to think of what they could do. They couldn’t kill him last time, but now…now they could do worse. But they couldn’t find him, not like this. Once they realized he was free, they would be looking for a wolf, for his powers manifesting on Midgard. And they wouldn’t find that. He was free, he realized. Free for the first time in his life. And he vowed (vowed to his father, locked under the earth, to his sister, doomed to rule the dead, to his brother, roaming the empty ocean, to the twins, one dead, one another mindless wolf) to make the most of his freedom for as long as he had. Even without powers, the Aesir would find him eventually - he knew they would never stop when it came to his family, but they wouldn’t come yet. He had time.

\-------

Midgardians (Humans, he reminded himself, they called themselves humans) were …interesting, Fenrir decided, after decades of roaming Midgard. They had changed a lot since he last walked the earth, with their new technology (it took him years to figure out what a phone was, he wasn’t going to tackle a computer anytime soon). At least humans weren’t all scared of his strength (which, he soon learned, was more than the average human had, even bound and practically powerless). Instead, some wanted to harness that power, and, curious, he let them. Of course, he soon learned that wasn’t always a good thing (Damien Moreau came to mind, making him into his personal attack dog).

He decided, though, when he left Moreau, to keep doing the same thing — it felt good to be good at something, to be needed for something, even if that was just punching people. He started to move around, though, never working for the same person twice. He valued his newfound freedom to be someone else’s attack dog again. Plus, he saw what happened when people got attached - he saw what happened to his father (Odin took him out of his fetters to see that, and the screams as his sibling killed sibling would haunt him forever), and he knew he’d outlive any mortal.

\-------

When Victor Dubenich put him on his team, he figured this would be just another job, just another team to walk away from when he was done with them. He’d gotten good at being unfriendly over the years - just enough so no one made friends with him. But somehow he found himself watching the Hardison working at his computer, found himself entranced by Parker, and knew that if he was going to make the same mistakes his father did, he’d do it for them. And when Nathan Ford calls him, asking if he wants another job, he doesn’t even consider saying no. And he found himself opening up to them. Even if they didn’t notice, even if they still mocked him for being closed off, he trusted them, for the first time in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a series of one-shots as I get more ideas for this AU.


End file.
